Would you agree that most people find it challenging to keep a good secret? Can you imagine what it would be like to be the keeper of thousands of juicy secrets? Frank Warren is such a person. There is probably no person in all of history who has been told more secrets than Frank Warren.
In 2004 Warren set out on a project to find out what kind of secrets people have and if they’d be willing to share those secrets with others. And so he set out by leaving self addressed and stamped postcards scattered throughout Washington D.C. that asked people to share their regrets, fears, betrayals, desires and confessions. They were invited to reveal anything they wanted as long as it is true and they had never shared it with anyone before. Warren now has over 100,000 secret postcards in storage and receives about 1,000 more cards a week.
I went to his blog the other day and read some of the secrets he posted. And there are some juicy secrets. Granted I haven’t read all of his secrets, but of the ones I did, I noticed one secret that wasn’t mentioned. And that’s the secret for how someone can make 2009 better than 2008. I thought about sending my own postcard to him with that secret written on the back, but instead I wanted you to be the first to hear it.
Would you like to hear the secret that could help you have a better year, this year? [S] The second secret for having a better year is to “Earn all you can.”
You heard me right. The second Secret for making 2009 better than 2008 for someone is to make as much money as you can. I wish I could say that this little secret is just between you and me, but the truth of the matter is that the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, blabbed this secret to the Methodists over 200 years ago when he told them to earn all they could. Why? Well, let me tell you the rest of the secret. John Wesley told the Methodists to [S] “Earn all you can, save all you can, so you can give all you can.” According to Wesleynomics 101 Methodists are encouraged to earn as much as they can, not so that they can increase their standard of living but so they can increase their standard of giving.
As ironic as it sounds, I believe that someone’s key to having a better year will be determined by whether or not they increase their standard of giving. No doubt, some people might think that this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and it does. But conventional wisdom is not the finale word when it comes to being a Christ follower. The word of God is.
[S] Hear the holy scripture read from 2 Corinthians 9.7-15. “Remember this” the Apostle Paul wrote. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply
and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” [S] (NIV).
There is a very relevant statement in this passage. Paul said “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.” Doesn’t that sound like Wesleynomics? Doesn’t that sound like Wesley’s secret of earning all you can so you can give all you can?
Now there’s no doubt in our minds I don’t think, that one of the fundamental values of being a Christian is generosity. One of the distinguishing marks of a Methodist is giving. The giving of ourselves, the giving of our time, the giving of our service, but also the giving of our resources, our wealth, our finances. And for some, indeed for many, that is the last stronghold that the evil one has on our lives. And in our hearts, we know it. For some Christ followers, there is a struggle within, when it comes to giving. It’s a battle and for different reasons. But fundamentally, it stems from the fear that a person won’t be better off than they are now if they start giving or increase their giving. That’s a big obstacle for some that really doesn’t need to be there. My guess is that what most people have discovered is that when they live from this perspective that they feel like they’ve swallowed a spiritual hairball. And well, I want to help you cough it up so you can experience a better life this year.
[S] Listen to what God said through Paul in Acts 20.32-35. “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (NIV) [S]
Note what Jesus didn’t say here. Jesus didn’t say that those who give will be miserable. He didn’t say those who give will be unhappy. He didn’t say that those who are generous will be worse off than if they had given less. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive.” It is more blessed to give than to keep. The implications of that are, that the person who chooses to withhold giving, for whatever reasons, will not be as blessed as if they did.
Think for a moment about the good that results when a person is generous. When a person gives they feel better about themselves don’t they? I know when I give, especially if I give more than I think I can, joy is released in my veins. Did you ever stop to think that every time a person gives to God or to another that God feels better too? And what about the good that happens to the recipient? How do you think they feel? How have you felt after receiving an unexpected gift, financial or otherwise? Those who are the recipients of another person’s generosity not only feel better about themselves but they will feel better about who God is too. Paul wrote, “and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
When a person gives, the giver is blessed, God is blessed, and the recipient is blessed. Giving it turns out is a win-win situation for everyone involved, but especially for the one who does the giving.
[S] Speaking to a group of religious leaders Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 638) [S]
I was thinking about this passage on my way from Salem, Illinois to Little Rock after a family funeral when I saw God taking a 1 cup measuring cup and dumping brown sugar into it from a bag. Very little came out of it at first. And then God began to shake it and two large clumps rolled out followed by a bunch of smaller clumps until the measuring cup was full. And then he sat it down on the counter. As I looked at the cup of brown sugar I noticed that there was a lot of space between all the clumps. Even though the chunks filled the cup, there wasn’t a full cup of brown sugar. And then God took a second cup, and shook the bag causing brown sugar to fall into it. More clumps. But this time God took his hand and compressed the brown sugar in the cup. When he did there was room for more. So God shook the bag again and more came out. Again he packed it down. And there was room for more. He filled it again and finely leveled it off. The brown sugar represented God’s blessings. Now, which cup of blessing do you think a person would rather have? The cup pressed down. Why? Because there’s more in it!
Jesus says that if we want that kind of blessing we need to give that kind of blessing. What we see here is that the principle of reaping what you sow applies to many areas of life, including one’s standard of giving. The person who gives nothing, will receive nothing. The person who gives a little will get a little. The person that gives a lot will receive a lot. So, let me ask you then, what does a person have to lose when it comes to increasing their standard of giving?
When one reads the scripture on the topic of giving what they learn according to God’s economy is that those who increase their giving are most likely to be better off than if they didn’t give in the first place. So why not give all you can?
That’s what John Wesley did. And the way he did it is to be commended and lifted up as an example. Early on his adult life he determined what he could live on. Anything he made over that he would give to extending the ministry of Jesus the Christ. For example early on in his ministry he received 30 pounds a year. He realized however that he could live on 28 pounds and so he gave the other two pounds away. The second year when he earned 60 pounds, he lived on 28 pounds and gave away 32. The third year he received 90 pounds, lived on 28, and gave 62 pounds away. The fourth year he received 120 pounds, lived on 28, and gave away 92 (Weems, pg. 77).
Even here we see God’s economy at work. Each year Wesley increased his standard of giving God took a good measure of his blessing, pressed it down and poured even more back into the lap of Mr. Wesley. John gave more, God provided him with more. Think about the satisfaction John Wesley experienced as he made a difference in the health of the lives of children lived in squalor, the elderly who were ill and without the ability to pay a doctor, the prisoners who had no friend, and the poor who were fed.
The first thing many people want to do in an economy like ours is to cap their giving, reduce their giving, or even quit their giving until they know what 2009 will shape up to be like. The natural tendency in times like this is to think that a person will be better off in the unforeseen future by keeping more back for themself. But that’s not the way it works in God’s economy.
Hear Jesus’ teaching on this matter of God’s economy in Matthew 6.1-4. “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (NIV)
Do you want 2009 to be better than 2008? Then for someone here that means you will want to increase your standard of giving. If you want this year to be better than last year, earn all you can so you can give all you can. Will you do the right thing? I hope so. Because it will make this year better than the last.
